Experts investigating the purchase of Russian metro cars have come to alarming results. Népszava obtained the secret report.
Use of unsuitable materials, outdated suspension systems, recurrent rust, more than a dozen series failures, awkwardly implemented, temporary solutions, Russian standards, careless execution – reads the report in the possession of Népszava. But there are more interesting things.
In early January, Mayor Gergely Karácsony ordered a comprehensive investigation into the procurement of Russian metro cars running on the M3 line. The report was also delivered on time by BME Viking Zrt., but the BKV Supervisory Board has not discussed it to date. For three months, the capital has essentially kept the report a secret, and not by accident.
The report deals separately with technical, economic, and legal issues. According to the report, compared to the purchase of new cars, the Russian construction chosen by the previous city administration, set as refurbishment, resulted in “very modest savings”, especially in terms of “the cost of operation and maintenance, which is still difficult to predict”. According to the report, operating costs could increase by up to 36 per cent by the end of the lifespan of the wagons. To this is added the cost of post-conditioning.
According to the report, 18 series of errors have been identified so far. Rust, lousy welding, and the occasional accidental breakage of seats are among the most serious problems.
The floor plates of the first three wagons were completely perforated in three years, but the rust had already reached the side plates, the support columns, and also appeared on the roof. In addition, rust stains have reappeared on the cars that have since been repaired. The Russians tried to eliminate the problem by drilling holes in the sill, but this was often done so carelessly that the water now flows straight into the support structure. A significant part of the problems is caused by the fact that it was not the old wagon bodies that were renewed, but new ones were made, and then new equipment not manufactured for this wagon body was attempted to be inserted into it.
Negligence is a recurring problem, according to the report. “Certain items should not have been released during the production inspection.” It is quite suspicious that the BKV quality certifier was paid for by the Russian company.
It is a warning sign that the failure rate in the entire vehicle fleet is already 15 per cent. However, 84 per cent of vehicles are required for normal operation.
Russian vehicles running on the M3 line were “not refurbished versions of exported metro cars,” the report on the procurement of trains revealed. According to the document, it was lawful to issue and carry out a public procurement procedure for the refurbishment of the wagons of the M3 metro line with modernisation, but “it must be stated that (…) it was not unexpected that the Metrowagonmash (MWM) won the tender”.
According to the legal opinion drawn up as part of the final report, “the system of evaluation criteria set out in the procurement documents did not fully serve to compel tenderers to offer the best technical content.” The €219-million contract for the refurbishment of metro cars has been amended five times since August 2015.
The last amendment fundamentally overwrote the metro contract.
In the original contract, MWM undertook only to replace the corroded components of the wagon body with new ones. Later, however, it was decided that entirely new ones should be produced. The type approval issued by the National Transport Authority for these new wagons differed significantly from the prior type approval in principle for the winning bid. The Ministry of National Development has created a new concept to help them out. Thanks to a broad interpretation of “vehicle modernization”, it has become possible for a Russian company to supply virtually completely new vehicles instead of refurbishing previous cars.
